India faced diplomatic backlash last month due to controversial comments about the prophet Muhammad by two spokespeople of the ruling party BJP. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, the UAE, Iran, Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and many more countries have registered protests against Nupur Sharma’s comment during a televised debate. Several of these countries summoned Indian ambassadors against this statement even though Qatar has only one country that demanded a public apology from India. The controversy came when the Indian vice-president M. Venkaiah Naidu and many leaders visited the country.
Nupur Sharma was suspended by the party for the next six years while another spokesperson Naveen Jindal the media head of the BJP was outcast from the party. Nupur Sharma said on Twitter that there were never any intentions to hurt anyone’s feelings then BJP told reporters that “the BJP strongly denounces insult of any religious personality of any religion. The BJP does not support any such people or philosophy.
Fake Diplomacy of Arab Nations against India
United Arab Emirates
India- UAE relations are important for both countries, India and UAE signed an economic partnership agreement with an aim of taking bilateral trade to the US $ 100 billion within 5 years but the UAE joined the Islamic world against the controversial statement of Nupur Sharma but religious freedom in UAE is different and in UAE conversion to other religions is forbidden and the legal punishment for conversion from Islam is death.
Maldives
India and Maldives shares ethnic and cultural relationship with each other. India and Maldives signed a memorandum of understanding in 2020. India gave 500 million USD to the Maldives for a fight against economic slowdown post-Covid 19 pandemics but after Nupur Sharma’s comments, the government of Maldives said “it unreservedly condemns all and any action that purports to pervert the true nature and teachings of Islam” but religious freedom does not exist in the Maldives it requires all citizens to be Muslims and propagation of any religion other than Islam is a criminal offense in the Maldives.
Jordan
India and Jordan share an economic relationship and India is Jordan’s 4TH largest partner trade and is expected to reach $5 billion by 2025. The foreign ministry of Jordan wrote a tweet condemning it in the strongest terms but in Jordan, the government monitors mosque sermons.
Oman
India and Oman enjoy excellent bilateral relations and both countries are connected with each other in terms of geography, history, and culture but Sheikh Khalifa bin Ali bin Issa al Harthy’s undersecretary for diplomatic affairs in Oman’s foreign ministry met the Indian ambassador Amit Narang and brought up the issue but in Oman offending Islam or any other Arabic religion is a criminal offense
Bahrain
India and Bahrain enjoy outstanding bilateral relations. The presence of over 350,000 Indian citizens is an important aspect of bilateral relations and both countries enjoy economic relations. The foreign ministry welcomed the BJP’S decision against Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal but in Bahrain, women are expected to cover their hair and knees. Women cannot wear swimming suits and Shia Muslims faced discrimination.
Indonesia
India and Indonesia have shared Hindu culture, Buddhist culture, and Muslim culture and tradition. Even the president of Indonesia Sukarno was the guest of honor during the first republic day parade in 1950. Indonesia is a country with the largest Muslim population. Indonesia “strongly” condemned the unacceptable derogatory remarks by two Indian politicians but in Indonesia, atheists can get a lifetime jail or a death punishment.
Afghanistan
India shares historic ties with its neighbor Afghanistan. India became the largest regional provider of humanitarian after the invasion of the Taliban but the Taliban government strongly condemned the derogatory remarks against these controversial statements. Religious freedom in Afghanistan has worsened because of the Taliban. In attacks on Shia Muslims, girls are denied an education beyond the sixth grade.
This type of statement was the backlash of the country and it affects the visionof PM Modi’s government and the organization of Islamic cooperation urged the United Nations to take necessary steps to protect the right of minorities in India after that responding to the IOC statement, Arindam Bagchi spokesperson for the ministry of external affairs said “we have seen the statement on India from the general secretariat of OIC and government of India rejects OIC secretariat’s unwarranted and narrow-minded comments.